SCHOLASTIC BASEBALL: Wallkill ousted by Rye in regional semifinal

SAUGERTIES >> One big inning undid Wallkill’s hopes of building on their first Section 9 title by adding a regional or even state title.

Section 1’s Rye pushed across five runs in the third inning against Wallkill starter Joe Pillitteri, and that was the difference in the 6-1 Panthers loss at Cantine Field in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association regional semifinal Saturday.

Pillitteri gave up five runs on five hits in the third, but held Rye hitless and scoreless in his other five innings. He had three strike outs and two walks as well as two hit batsmen.

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The Panthers looked like they would rally in the bottom of the fourth when Nick Gomez got Wallkill’s first hit, a single, and Sean Puleo laid down a perfect bunt to put runners on first and second with one out. Pillitteri put a single just past the reach of the second baseman which loaded the bases. Nick Pacifico hit a ground-ball out that plated a run, but Ed O’Donnell popped out in foul territory to end the threat. A walk and a hit batsman in the sixth gave Wallkill their last good chance at scoring a few runs, but Pillitteri grounded into an inning-ending double play.

“I thought we had a decent chance at it,” Pilliteri said. “We fought to the very end, there was no give up in these kids. We kept swinging the bats and making plays in the field. You have one bad inning, that’s baseball, it happens.”

The Rye third inning got off to a bad start when the leadoff hitter that inning, Tim Hale, took a ball on a 3-2 count that was very close to a strike. Rye then executed a great bunt that drew a throw from Wallkill’s third baseman that skipped past the first baseman, leaving runners on first and third. Tim DeGraw then hit a long single that plated two, while also taking second on the throw. A sacrifice bunt moved DeGraw to third and Griffin Tutun knocked him in with a single. Brendan Tripodi hit a high fly that got caught in the wind and drifted away from the Panther’s rightfielder for an RBI double. Sam Lubeck capped the scoring by putting a ball down the third base line, just over the third base bag and out of the reach of the diving third baseman.

“Defensively we had a couple of blips in that one inning, and at this level, at this time of the year, those tiny thing can lead to big innings,” Wallkill coach TD Mills said. “They had that one big inning and that’s what ended up costing us.”

Rye starter Luke Meyerson went the distance, limiting Wallkill to three hits while earning the win.

“I told these guys ‘Joe’s not going to throw a shut out, we’re going to need a little more run support,’ but I can’t ask any more from Joe,” said Mills.

Mills couldn’t ask much more from his team this year either, as they did some things never before achieved by a Wallkill baseball team.

“I told these kids they had nothing to be ashamed of this season; winningest team in school history and first sectional championship,” Mills said.

“It was a great season, I was happy to play with these kids,” Pillitteri said. “I think we set precedent in Wallkill; we’re a baseball town. We’re going to come out in baseball every year and be a confident team. I wish these kids the best of luck, there’s a lot of talent left.”

Wallkill will have some talented players heading back, including lead-off hitter Nick Gomez, who scored the only run in each of Wallkill’s past two games.

“For next year, we’ve got our whole infield back, but we have a lot of big shoes to fill in our entire outfield,” Mills said.

The team will lose their entire starting outfield; Nick Pacifico, Dylan Nataro and Sean Puleo. Pacifico stepped up for Wallkill this year, stepping into the role of number two starter and succeeding in that role.

Puleo has been a defensive stalwart for Wallkill.

“You saw it today, defensively I don’t think there are too many better defensive centerfielders in the section, or the state, better than Sean Puleo,” Mills said. “And he can swing the bat.”

Puleo made back-to-back great catches in the outfield at one point to support Pillitteri and kept a couple of hard-hit balls from being big hits.

Finding a new starting pitcher could also be a challenge.

“You can’t replace a Joe Pillitteri offensively and on the mound,” Mills said. “We’re going to miss him a lot.”

Mills said that Pillitteri is heading to Hartwick to play on a football scholarship, though he probably could have gotten a baseball scholarship instead if he wanted to.

The Panthers are also losing Ed O’Donnell from behind the plate, who has been a steady defensive presence behind the plate, according to Mills. O’Donnell blocked every ball in the dirt during the game, even ones where no Rye base-runner was on to take advantage. O’Donnell will head to St. Joseph in Vermont to play baseball.